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This should be an interesting read. I've always liked Diablo over Diablo 2 because of the flexibility of the system. I don't think Diablo had anything that was locked to a class, so if the game decided to drop a really awesome bow or spell and you're playing a Warrior, you could drop points into agility or magic until you could use the awesome weapon. I know there were hard caps to stats that would stop you from using the absolute top-tier items, but other than that the sky was the limit on what you could do with each class. Not like Diablo 2, where there was so much class-specific loot that there was no point in looking at 99% of the poo poo you picked up. "Oh look, another shrunken head and pelt. Sure am happy I decided to run an Assassin despite not getting my class-specific weapons at all."
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Jul 27, 2014 08:48
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My nostalgia bone is thrumming right now. Something about Diablo 1 is still fresh and unique. Very psyched for this LP so far.
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Jul 28, 2014 09:34
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I loved Diablo 2 and quite like Daiblo 3, but I've never had a chance to play 1. I vaguely recall watching my friend play it online once or twice and I goaded his squishy wizard into attacking his beefy knight friend. I think it ended poorly. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing where it all began.
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Jul 28, 2014 09:40
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Arcade Rabbit posted:I loved Diablo 2 and quite like Daiblo 3, but I've never had a chance to play 1. I vaguely recall watching my friend play it online once or twice and I goaded his squishy wizard into attacking his beefy knight friend. I think it ended poorly. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing where it all began. Haha. On the few occasions we multi-playered it, I learnt to keep WELL away from my wizard friend. Friendly fire is MOST CERTAINLY a thing in Diablo 1 Multiplayer, and wizards have a habit of blasting everything that moves until it stops.
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Jul 28, 2014 11:11
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Playing alongside sorcerers in Diablo trained me to stack resists. I never had a problem playing Hell difficulty in Diablo 2.
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Jul 28, 2014 17:16
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Leif. posted:My nostalgia bone is thrumming right now. Something about Diablo 1 is still fresh and unique. Very psyched for this LP so far. For me it's the music. Even though there are only six pieces written for the game they are so memorable. Hell Tristram's theme can be found in all three of the games (and my personal favourite is hearing that familiar strumming lick when you kill Diablo in D2) and I feel that a huge part of why this game is a different beast than its followers has to do with the atmosphere it sets up. I remember a long time ago when I was kicking around gamefaqs (so a LONG time ago) and I was reading some user-submitted reviews for games I grew up playing, such as Diablo and this person gave the music a low score and he said something about how the music was discordant and out of tune. Now musician he was not but whatever, that struck me with how weird the Tristram theme is. You start the game and you are listening to this hellish march that is the title and menu theme and then you are transported into this desolated town and it's kind of like you're listening to the last local musicians play this dirge to point out that yes this town has been rocked with disaster and you should turn away if you are not prepared for what it will entail. Of course as the game goes on the music gets more and more unsettling (the Caves are my favourite, especially since you can hear a child crying at one point). The more I think about it, the more I like Diablo for it being more of a survival horror RPG as compared to D2 and D3, which are more just regular action RPGs, definitely the whole idea that when you die you die instead of just respawning back in town (ok, that happened in multiplayer in D1 but you know what I mean) makes you think more strategically when fighting.
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Jul 28, 2014 21:00
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Aces High posted:Of course as the game goes on the music gets more and more unsettling (the Caves are my favourite, especially since you can hear a child crying at one point). The more I think about it, the more I like Diablo for it being more of a survival horror RPG as compared to D2 and D3, which are more just regular action RPGs, definitely the whole idea that when you die you die instead of just respawning back in town (ok, that happened in multiplayer in D1 but you know what I mean) makes you think more strategically when fighting. Diablo was originally meant to be a turn-based Rogue-like and early in development someone asked, "what if it was real time?"
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Jul 30, 2014 01:46
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:Diablo was originally meant to be a turn-based Rogue-like and early in development someone asked, "what if it was real time?" More like someone in marketing said "turn-based is dead, this needs to be real time" half way through development.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:34
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Ah, memories. My gramps would play this (still does, incidentally) and I'd just watch as a kid. I wasn't really good enough to properly play it, and Diablo II was out by the time I really got into the first one, so I only did a few runs. I never touched the multiplayer, so I'm actually surprised how apparently common the cursed items are. You actually had a much better chance of getting uniques in the single player than you did getting a bent club of the fool or whatever. One in a standard run was rare, two was almost unthinkable. Also, I was always kind of curious about the win condition for the Sorcerer. Rouges and Warriors could just get bigger weapons, but I always had a hard time with Sorcerer unless I got either Fireball or Golem. Could you really beat Diablo with just Firebolt if you had to?
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Jul 30, 2014 04:58
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Aces High posted:For me it's the music. Even though there are only six pieces written for the game they are so memorable. Hell Tristram's theme can be found in all three of the games (and my personal favourite is hearing that familiar strumming lick when you kill Diablo in D2) and I feel that a huge part of why this game is a different beast than its followers has to do with the atmosphere it sets up. 
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Jul 30, 2014 05:40
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Random_Username posted:Ah, memories. My gramps would play this (still does, incidentally) and I'd just watch as a kid. I wasn't really good enough to properly play it, and Diablo II was out by the time I really got into the first one, so I only did a few runs. The current WR speedrun for Diablow (last time I checked at least) is just over three minutes, and while it requires insane amounts of luck manipulation (and a glitch or six), he does indeed beat Diablo with Firebolts. Really though, gimmick runs of D1&2 have been the lifeblood of the community for years. If you think 'can it be done', odds are someone's already done it.
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Jul 30, 2014 06:07
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Deathwind posted:More like someone in marketing said "turn-based is dead, this needs to be real time" half way through development. Never. Old Blizzard was amazing and innovative. Lost Vikings, Rock and Roll Racing, this game. It wasn't until Warcraft 2 and Diablo 2 when Blizzard found their current M.O. of taking a generic game and just polishing the poo poo out of it and stopped really innovating.
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Jul 30, 2014 06:29
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MartianAgitator posted:Never. Old Blizzard was amazing and innovative. Lost Vikings, Rock and Roll Racing, this game. It wasn't until Warcraft 2 and Diablo 2 when Blizzard found their current M.O. of taking a generic game and just polishing the poo poo out of it and stopped really innovating. Yes, there was no groundbreaking game after Warcraft 2, one that set the standard for having different factions in strategy games. Starcraft never happened! Diablo 1 definitely has a more survival horror theme to it than Diablo 2. I found parts of Diablo 2 much more difficult, but they were never as creepy and unnerving as the dungeons in Diablo 1.
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Jul 30, 2014 07:32
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Torrannor posted:Yes, there was no groundbreaking game after Warcraft 2, one that set the standard for having different factions in strategy games. Starcraft never happened! It was just Warcraft in Space.
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Jul 30, 2014 12:30
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ThisIsNoZaku posted:Diablo was originally meant to be a turn-based Rogue-like and early in development someone asked, "what if it was real time?" There's definitely a lot of roguelike elements in the game. In addition to the cursed armor, there's also the shrines seen in later games which can have negative effects up to and including permanent stat decreases (and, conversely, stat increases), random "side dungeons" much like the branches seen in other roguelikes such as Crawl, a much bigger focus on character growth through dungeon diving as opposed to class skills (past the early game all three classes in D1 can wind up being practically identical depending on where you put stats/what you find), and if you're in singleplayer death flat-out kicks you out of the game, although if you have an earlier save you can still load that. I think you can even wear unidentified armor in some earlier versions of the game. While it's generally credited with inventing/popularizing the action RPG genre the original Diablo would probably get labeled (incorrectly, depending on how pedantic you are) a roguelike if it came out today. President Ark fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Jul 30, 2014 |
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Jul 30, 2014 16:10
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I seem to recall that the original Diablo was explicitly designed as being Moria (or maybe it was Angband) with actual production values. Then someone decided to see what would happen if you removed the pause between turns, and they ended up with the "chunky realtime" system.
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Jul 30, 2014 16:21
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Random_Username posted:Also, I was always kind of curious about the win condition for the Sorcerer. Rouges and Warriors could just get bigger weapons, but I always had a hard time with Sorcerer unless I got either Fireball or Golem. Could you really beat Diablo with just Firebolt if you had to? It can be done with firebolt, but even a level 1 Holy Bolt absolutely wrecks Diablo's day and books for it are incredibly common. Fighting your way there, on the other hand, can be tough if you don't get some of the higher level spells. Lightning (and/or chain lightning), fireball, and golem will get you through most situations. If books aren't dropping as much as you'd like, look at Adria's inventory, and keep a shield handy if you find mana potions expensive--the Sorcerer is secretly the king of shield bashing in this game.
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Jul 30, 2014 21:22
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Really enjoying this LP - didn't think a SS LP of Diablo would work but this has been great so far!
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Jul 31, 2014 00:28
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Is there any room for Mod discussion in here? I've been messing around with The Hell mod, and it has been a fun change of pace from vanilla.
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Jul 31, 2014 05:59
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Needs the Diablo soundtrack for maximum viewing (reading) experience Diablo 1 OST Diablo 2 OST Best Regards, RG
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Jul 31, 2014 06:21
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RickVoid posted:Is there any room for Mod discussion in here? I've been messing around with The Hell mod, and it has been a fun change of pace from vanilla. Or to delve into the ridiculous difficulty curve that the hellfire "Expansion" added onto the game. I recall some of the monsters being a little..unfair.
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Jul 31, 2014 06:23
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Aishlinn posted:Or to delve into the ridiculous difficulty curve that the hellfire "Expansion" added onto the game. I recall some of the monsters being a little..unfair. Oh Hellfire. Taking the erranous tooltips from Nightmare. And making them the ACTUAL values. GEEEEENIUS.
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Jul 31, 2014 06:52
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MartianAgitator posted:Never. Old Blizzard was amazing and innovative. Lost Vikings, Rock and Roll Racing, this game. It wasn't until Warcraft 2 and Diablo 2 when Blizzard found their current M.O. of taking a generic game and just polishing the poo poo out of it and stopped really innovating. I really liked the old art styles of Warcaft 1/2, Diablo 1 and Starcraft/Broodwar. They were very atmospheric and it appears like they lost a lot of that as time went on (starting with Warcraft 3)
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Jul 31, 2014 07:11
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Could you guys elaborate on Hellfire for those of us who never played it?
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Jul 31, 2014 09:13
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I started replaying Diablo with the Beelzebub mod, which restores all the cut quests. And glorious 1080p for eyestrain enthusiasts. Looking forward to the insanity this LP looks poised to spawn.
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Jul 31, 2014 14:52
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Had a death in the family, so I'll be another couple days before putting up another post.Xenoborg posted:Wow, I did not remember Diablo 1 having no natural mana regeneration, thats got to be brutal. I'm fine with drinking potions. It's the belt mechanics that'll do me in. In D2, you can shift+click potions to your 4x4 slot belt and like potions will stack with like to fill holes. I need to click and drag ever single friggin potion from my inventory to my belt. Looking forward to doing that in Hell with azure drakes trying to gnaw my legs off. Pierzak posted:What are the exact rules regarding cursed gear? Do you have to wear one from the moment you find it? What about if you wear a lovely robe and you find one with a truly assholish curse that would make your life hell? Do you have to wear the worst equipment you find, or does it just have to be cursed (i.e. slightly below-zero stats)? There's one piece of cursed gear you MUST use as soon as you find it--and I'll get into that when/if I find it. The rest of the time, any cursed gear will do. Playing on Battle.net with my buddies, we'd save our truly awful pieces of gear for important stuff like Lazarus/Diablo runs because Griswold couldn't repair cursed gear. (Warriors have the ability to repair durability at the cost of making the item less durable; it was a polite thing to offer when teaming with a beyond naked rogue or mage.) I'll probably devote a post down the road to popular D1 bugs and exploits. Phosphine posted:Are you sure about this? I remember the opposite, and Diablowiki agrees with me. Yeah, DiabloWiki's right. I need to reread Jarulf's Guide. XD WinterSteel posted:EDIT: I found one way to do it. I'll hold off until queserasera posts about it; wouldn't want to step on any toes. Done and done on the second thread post. Let's discuss. quote:This makes me wonder if a run like this could even be possible with another class...might have to test it out for fun. There are rules for beyond naked warriors and rogues. Rogues are easier to play than warriors: spend points in magic and dexterity, get yourself a nice cursed shield or two, and block projectiles while firing back your own spells. Rogues and warriors also rely heavily on items affecting visibility, as waking the entire map and not being able to see a drat thing around you are considered curses. Torrannor posted:Is this from Realms Beyond Civilization, formerly Realms Beyond Diablo? Kind of. Over the years, Realms Beyond became the archive of D1 and D2 player culture as people moved on and hosting sites like GeoCities stopped working. Griselda and KingofPain were known for their insane Ironman Diablo runs back in the day. The Diablo forum on RB is still going, and looking at the front page, there are some old-timers still there, still posting, still creating and playing variants. quote:Will you show off the Diablo 1 expansion? Never liked Hellfire. But if I can suicide by barrel for the sake of the LP, I can play Hellfire for the LP. Randalor posted:I don't think Diablo had anything that was locked to a class, so if the game decided to drop a really awesome bow or spell and you're playing a Warrior, you could drop points into agility or magic until you could use the awesome weapon. I know there were hard caps to stats that would stop you from using the absolute top-tier items, but other than that the sky was the limit on what you could do with each class. There are a few limits. Warriors swing melee weapons the fastest, likewise with rogues shooting arrows and mages slinging spells. There are some optimal builds for each class requiring top-shelf unique items and lots and lots of Wirt/Laz/Diablo runs. But yeah, all characters can use all items as long as they meet the stat requirements. Veloxyll posted:Friendly fire is MOST CERTAINLY a thing in Diablo 1 Multiplayer, and wizards have a habit of blasting everything that moves until it stops. A mage that uses AoE spells on Battle.net will soon find himself without friends. XD There were a few commercially released Diablo soundtracks but they're long out of print. Matt Uelmen also did the music for Torchlight 1 and 2 and they have a similar dark fantasy vibe. Buying and installing the games through Steam or GOG, you can find all of the soundtracks as .ogg files in the install folder. (The GOG version comes with the official soundtrack as bonus content and Runic made the Torchlight 2 soundtrack available on their website. Both are MP3, I believe.) RickVoid posted:Is there any room for Mod discussion in here? I've been messing around with The Hell mod, and it has been a fun change of pace from vanilla. Sure. I'm not even sure which D1 mods are still available--now I'm curious. Sir Shion posted:Could you guys elaborate on Hellfire for those of us who never played it? Hellfire is the official D1 expansion (I don't think it's canon anymore though) and IIRC came out a year after D1. It introduces three new character classes (one in the release, the other two available after some file tweaking), two new dungeons, and a new boss. Hellfire also added Runes that act like spell-based floor traps and oils that give temporary or permanent bonuses to items kinda like how runes and jewels work in D2. Hellfire doesn't have multiplayer, so if I do it, it's going to have to be a singleplayer run.
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Jul 31, 2014 17:58
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I remember the very first teaser for Diablo on the Warcraft II CD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a79oJJwTvrg I think they just re-used the demon model from the War2 cutscenes for it. "Good luck."
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Jul 31, 2014 18:45
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That breathing sound is phenomenal. I guess somebody in the office had a cold that day.
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Aug 1, 2014 00:32
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queserasera posted:I'm going to save this post for any Diablo-related stuff I find that won't otherwise fit in the LP, as well as how to make D1 run on Win7/Vista/Win8 machines without bugging out. This... this is not the best option. Go here: http://khanduras.net/resources/khanduras-network-resources/game-guides/compatibility-guides/classic-diablo/ and download either the 32-bit or 64-bit fix for the scrambled color issue. The next issue is resolution. You can either get the ddwrapper (which is what I'm currently using) or you can get on that does what the ddwrapper does and automatically throws it into windowed mode and lets you change the resolution (which I'm going to download and test out). If you do the ddwrapper, go here http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/ and grab DXWnd, which will also let you run the game in a window and let's you specify the resolution to use. queserasera posted:Had a death in the family, so I'll be another couple days before putting up another post. Sorry to hear that. Take whatever time you need, we'll be here when you get back. queserasera posted:I'm fine with drinking potions. It's the belt mechanics that'll do me in. In D2, you can shift+click potions to your 4x4 slot belt and like potions will stack with like to fill holes. I need to click and drag ever single friggin potion from my inventory to my belt. Looking forward to doing that in Hell with azure drakes trying to gnaw my legs off. Yep. It's the worst. You've got to treat your potion belt like a gun and tactically reload that sucker every chance you get. queserasera posted:Sure. I'm not even sure which D1 mods are still available--now I'm curious. There's two big ones right now: The Awakening, and The Hell. Both are based on Hellfire, are made by separate mod teams, and do much of the same things. From what I can tell, The Awakening is Stupid Hard; the Butcher is set to spawn on D1, and does not drop the Cleaver (one of the biggest unwelcome surprises). Your armor loses a point of durability every time it takes a hit (and weapon durability seems to drop pretty quickly as well). It seems like you are expected to start a new game with your character multiple times and scum each section of the dungeon for a while before you move on to the next. And they replaced Peppin the Healer with a Dev self-insert. Said Dev also comes off as a tool on their forums, but that may just be the language barrier. The Hell added a bunch of new unique monsters, and bunch of new weapons, armors, and unique gear, the ability to dual wield (which does appear on your character!), and they removed all negative shrine effects. On the other hand, they also replaced all of the scrolls with Relicts (which I think are supposed to be spelled Relics), which now require a minimum Magic score to use. Yes, this includes Town Portal. Amulets and Rings also have Magic requirements to wear. Potion cost appears to have been doubled, but may actually heal more life and mana. Relic(t)s of healing cost half of what vanilla potions cost, though. I still am liking The Hell better than Awakening for all that, though. RickVoid fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 00:46
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queserasera posted:Done and done on the second thread post. Let's discuss. Well, I'd tried those workarounds as well, but was getting frustrated at having a massive stretch over the widescreen monitor. I did happen to find a file, uploaded in March of 2014; so fairly recently, truth be told, that ended up modifying the directdraw dll file. In short, it enables windowed mode from the get-go, fixes any and all color problems without having to run compatibility mode or kill explorer.exe, and allows you to up the resolution (though it's all still the same graphics, just in a bigger format so you don't have to strain too hard to see those rings in the catacomb floors). The link is as follows: http://www.strangebytes.com/index.php/projects/1-diablo-1-windows-7-vista-patch=60 The site gives a brief overview of how it works and how to activate in-game. A few minor bugs exist, but nothing truly noteworthy (namely menu draw issues before you start the game. Game plays just fine, though, and I've been playing a lot since I found this the other day. However, seeing that HD Diablo mod; Beelzebub, I might just have to try that out. E;FB: RickVoid provided a better overall link. I haven't noticed any crashing on exiting the game, though, so perhaps that's just me getting lucky.
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Aug 1, 2014 06:00
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Torrannor posted:Yes, there was no groundbreaking game after Warcraft 2, one that set the standard for having different factions in strategy games. Starcraft never happened! Dune 2 was the first RTS and had three different factions with unique units.
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Aug 2, 2014 07:53
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If I remember, the Devs even said Starcraft was influenced by Dune 2. I have no quotes and this may be me misremembering completely.
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Aug 2, 2014 08:15
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In The Hell mod, I'm currently running a Paladin (re-worked Warrior class, starts with a MAG of 0). He is wielding a unique Light Staff, called the Salamander. Its stats: 5-15 Dmg, Resist Fire +58%, Fire Hit 2-200, +137% Damage, +28 Damage, -2 Damage From Enemies. The requirements? 10 STR, 15 DEX. It is so amazingly broken. Every time you hit something (or attack by shift clicking) a little explosion appears. And it attacks as fast as you can click. I'm only on DLvl 5. The enemies are just melting. One thing I forgot to mention about the mod: dropped items appear on the map as blue squares, and items you can interact with (such as chests and items on the ground) are highlighted. Never miss an item again!
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Aug 2, 2014 09:13
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why would a Paladin class have no magic 
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Aug 2, 2014 16:04
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Aces High posted:why would a Paladin class have no magic No idea, especially given that this mod requires a minimum MAG stat for the scroll replacments and jewellery. So you then have to spend at least one levels worth of points on magic, and absolutely more than that if you want to wear the really good stuff. It's really throwing stat boosting items (really good ones too) at me like candy. I'm seeing lots of low level + to all stats stuff, and i've got two items that are adding +11 to one stat each(a ring for Magic and a helm for Strength).
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Aug 2, 2014 19:18
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queserasera posted:Had a death in the family, so I'll be another couple days before putting up another post. I'm sorry for your loss. Don't worry about LP until you get everything else sorted out. Thread isn't going anywhere! Anyway, Blizzard isn't exactly the most original company out there. A lot of their games are inspired by other games already out, I think. The thing they do well, though, is polish the same idea until it shines brighter than anything else. Don't need to have 100% original ideas when you can take an idea, and execute it really well! RickVoid posted:The Hell added a bunch of new unique monsters, and bunch of new weapons, armors, and unique gear, the ability to dual wield (which does appear on your character!), and they removed all negative shrine effects. On the other hand, they also replaced all of the scrolls with Relicts (which I think are supposed to be spelled Relics), which now require a minimum Magic score to use. Yes, this includes Town Portal. Amulets and Rings also have Magic requirements to wear. Potion cost appears to have been doubled, but may actually heal more life and mana. Relic(t)s of healing cost half of what vanilla potions cost, though. I still am liking The Hell better than Awakening for all that, though. The Magic requirements for "relicts" and accessories makes it sound like this mod is going to be a huge pain for Warriors, especially early game.
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Aug 2, 2014 19:47
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RSCNyx posted:I'm sorry for your loss. Two points: The requirements for relicts (I hate that word so goddamn much oh my god) and accessories aren't that bad, and the games faqs point out that if you can get to at least 20 Mag you'll be able use the vast majority of stuff (and with +11 stat gear being fairly common it's not too hard to get there). I haven't mentioned spell books yet, though. I haven't seen one yet that wants less than a Mag of 30 to read. Point two: All the classes have been revamped, and you have six to choose from. Posting from the awful app so I don't have everything at hand, but I know there are two warrior-like classes (one shield focused and one focusing on dual wielding and two handed weapons), two rogue classes (one normal ranged and one with a magical bent), and two Sorceror classes (the standard and the monk from Hellfire).
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Aug 2, 2014 20:09
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quote:If I remember, the Devs even said Starcraft was influenced by Dune 2. Of course it was: Battle for Arrakis was pretty much one of, if not 'The' first RTS.
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Aug 2, 2014 20:17
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4 - A bit of light reading Welcome back! I believe I was going back to town. Might as well pick up Jarulf's Guide for some catchup reading. (Here's a link to a well-formatted PDF version if you care to follow along at home.)  According to Jarulf's Guide...
 And you're looking at it. (It's always a good idea to have Cain ID uniques, as they always sell for more. I'll wait on the rags and sword and mace, but since I'm here, I'll repair them.)  Now, when I used to play this game 4-6 hours a day, I could tell you the best places to grind for certain pieces of gear. After a 12-hour day of commuting and work, I'm lucky if I can tell you my own name sometimes. My numbers may be a bit off.  But I'm not here to do math--I'm here to get beyond naked. So let's do some more of that. Off to Adria's!   : I sense a soul in search of answers! I didn't even have the option to sell the staff of readiness to Griz. I sell off the resurrect and inferno scrolls and fill my belt. Adria, are you selling secret tech I need to make dlvl 2 easier?  Of course not.  Here, Cain, take this money Adria didn't want and give me a frail set of rags and a clumsy sword.  oh for pete's sake  Fine, you losers. I'm going back to the monster-filled church. I thought you were my friends.  You, don't go anywhere.  Back in the dungeon, straight for the stairs.  Interesting stair placement. Hokay, level 2 is like level 1 but with a slightly different mix of monsters plus the hardest boss in the entire game. Big D's going to be a pushover once I get to him. The boss on this level can shred a full multiplayer group in seconds. Luckily, he's also the dumbest of the four bosses and he's locked in his own little room until I choose to let him out. I'm not going to do that until I clear the level and (hopefully) assemble the tech I need.  Slightly tougher skeletons. Note that revealed stats don't apply to a monster group, just each type within that group. (Not that I'm deeply invested in the stat count; if I really wanted to know this guy's HP or TH%, I'd look it up in Jarulf's.)  New type of zombie. I think I can get into the library from this direction.  Or not. Unlike the last level, I can see a path around to the door.  New monster group! Winged fiends attack like bored cats: wander close, lazily swat a few times, wander away. Fiends are the weakest. The other types in this group are more of a challenge. Also, winged fiends can't drop items (with one exception) but make up for that with higher experience per kill.  I forgot to screencap the new type of fallen one, the carver, until after I killed it.  Dark blue, moves about the same speed, doesn't run away as far after it sees its buddies get murdered. BARRELS FOREVER.  Dlvl 1 has fewer monsters than other levels. Expect to take a few steps into a new area and immediately retreat from 6-8 different critters. Skeletons move the fastest, so roast them first. If fallen ones are nearby, they'll scatter. After that, just put down whatever comes close. Tactical strategies will gain importance once enemies gain speed and damage resistance and other fun tricks.  I haven't even gone halfway into this room, and look at all the dead monster parts around me.  Why yes, this is my second death to an exploding barrel. Toughest enemy in the game, right here.  Restart in town, visit Pepin...  Earlier, after I sold all that positive-enchantment blue gear (  ), I dropped my gold in town for safekeeping. I sell the random junk in my inventory, pile the gold back on the ground, and head back to the dungeon. (Looking back, I should've gone to Adria and investigated her scrolls and books. Ah well.) No barrel's going to keep me down.  I clear out more of the room and reach level 5. Just a little bit more in MAG...  Uh-oh. I'm gonna conga line these five skeletons around the room so I won't get surrounded.  I'm on the other side of the room with low health and that was me doing my best to keep away from them. I'm made out of pink bathrobe and tissue paper. Fortunately, I know Healing, so I can repair myself as long as I have the mana. An ability I forgot about when I was whacking those barrels earlier. Barrels give me tunnel vision, what can I say.   And back to where I was pre-conga.  I circle the room, kill everything that moves, pick up what little there is in the way of loot, and go south to that library I saw earlier.  Bottlenecks can save your life.  Ah, someone dropped another spell book for me. Telekinesis is a support skill that does what you think it does.  In addition to picking up any item or gold pile in range, I can use Telekinesis to open doors and chests remotely.  I don't have much mana but I forge ahead anyway. I'll get a little mana back when I read what's in the bookcase.  YES. Holy Bolt is the cure for those fast and scary undead. At low levels, its damage is on par with low-level Firebolt, but at higher levels, I can take down undead in just a few hits. Plus, Holy Bolt has a high chance to stunlock. I'll still need two hits to take down a skeleton--for now--but I'll have an easier time with crowd control now that I can freeze those fuckers long enough to run away.  This area's south of the library. This area also has barrels.  One releases a skeleton and gives me level 6.  More bottlenecking. These kinds of grating-plus-door setups can help thin out crowds on higher difficulties.  Getting my bearings. I have what looks to be another big open area to explore past the archway. (The small square room with the yellow door is the library where I picked up Holy Bolt.)  And there's this to explore.  Good choice. Those skeleton book stands have a chance of dropping books and are guaranteed to drop scrolls. Appropriately, the room also could be full of skeletons.  A grating-plus-door setup means I can pick them off in relative safety.  One of those tomes dropped an ID scroll. A shame I have nothing blue.  A few more kills and my inventory's full. I walk back to town and sell my crap to Griswold. I won't lie--the early game is tedious. The only reason it's worth my time to sell every bit of loot I find, even the caps and rags, is a certain spell that will make the Catacombs manageable. I want to buy that book as soon as Adria stocks it.   : I sense a soul in search of answers! It's not the Catacomb-crushing book I wanted and I don't need it now as much as I thought I would before entering level 2, but I might as well grab it while I'm here. Fire wall: says what it does. With that and a full belt of blues, I'm ready as I'll ever be to fight the Butcher.  Just for grins, I look at the other stuff she's selling. Phasing is a short-range and randomized teleport, more of a novelty than anything else. Mana shield turns my mana orb into an extra health orb, depleting that first. As I'll always have more mana than anything else (including sense), it's the closest thing I'll ever have to armor as a BNM.  I finish clearing out this side.  Wake up a ton of monsters, kill them, fill my inventory with their item drops, sell them, buy more mana with the profits, repeat ad nauseum.  My first shrine. They're like a Deck of Many Things, just with more beneficial effects than harmful ones. There are three shrines I won't ever touch: they raise a low-level spell by two levels at the cost of 10% of your base mana. I'm not going to permanently cripple myself for 2000 gold worth of spells.  This one will give me a free mana shield for the rest of the dungeon, provided I don't leave the level.   Sometimes the only clue to a shrine's effects is a cryptic phrase that appears on-screen when clicked. When the spirit is vigilant, the body thrives. Not so here. The golden ball over my head is my new best friend. I feel better knowing my life total is now about four times the normal size.  Ding.  This is a dead end, which means the room I'm looking for is on the other side.  You know you've found it when you enter one of those big square dungeon rooms with a smaller room with a single door inside it. Now's a good time to tell you who I'm up against.  : Lives in a room full of body parts on the second dungeon level. Wields a cleaver but doesn't drop it in multiplayer.  Chopped off Wirt's leg. Arguably scarier than Diablo himself if you don't know how to trick him...but I know how.   Screw you, barrels.  Hey, magic rags.  I clear out the rest of the level and realize my inventory's stuffed. Some variant players cheat a little bit and put on gear just to mule it back to town.   Time to top off my mana and head back. Notice the glowing square in the room. That's where he's standing. I could use Telekinesis to open the door but the Butcher's not going to move until he sees me. I have to poke my head in and say hi.  So I open the door and run like hell. (Playing the game off the CD-ROM, I was afraid the disc would spin up and the next thing I'd see would be the red screen of death and the Butcher standing on my corpse swinging his cleaver around.)  The first part of my Butcher-killing plan involves the stairs down to level 3.  A debate from days-gone-by: is this pathing abuse? I say it isn't because the Butcher can't open doors, and if he can't master doors, what makes us think he can master stairs?  cmon dammit get in your hole  There we go.  As long as I don't move, he won't move either. If the path from the Butcher's room to the stairs wasn't a straight shot or the stairs themselves spawned next to unbreakable pieces of scenery--the torch or sarcophagus down there, for example--I'd risk getting cleaved in two due to my own pathing issues around objects. That's where the scroll of Fire Wall comes into play: find a hallway or room with a grating and dance the Butcher along it like a shooting gallery, using Fire Wall to drain health and maybe even stunlock him while spraying Fire Bolts from the other side of the grate. (You can cast Fire Wall in areas you can't see; I would've barbequed the Butcher in his own room if not for the mangled corpses and other obstacles. You can also cast a AoE spell centering on an invalid target like a scenery piece and nothing happens. Half baked butcher means dead BNM.)  Most bosses are resistant to fire, lightning, and magic, if not immune on Nightmare and Hell difficulties. Much as I want to show off the strategies for dealing with triple-immune enemies in Hell, I hope I don't run into any of them down there.  Might as well put the scroll to good use.  The fire lasts for about ten seconds. A very minor bug: if I cast a spell off a scroll and I haven't read a book of it yet, the spell produced by the scroll is the spell level 1 version, unless I have a slvl 2 or higher spell hotkeyed. As my active spell is my level 3 Fire Bolt, I produce a level 3 Fire Wall. (Not like it really matters--I think it's maybe an extra four seconds worth of fire.)  And Fire Bolt does him in. Boss monsters always drop items and their items are always good magic items. Whatever it is should sell well.  Once the Butcher is dead, the dying guy disappears. (Playing on Battle.net, his status was a clue to what the other players in the game were up to: was the Butcher still alive, was the person a new player who actually talked to him and killed him, etc.)  I can't remember what it was, but it sold for a decent amount.  And here we are, at the end of my first recorded segments. Next recording session, we find out what's on levels 3 and 4 of the dungeon, meet interesting monsters (and Fire Bolt them), and try to hunt up some cursed items. If there's any content you want to see in particular, or suggestions for this LP, just let me know. EXTRA HELPING OF BONUS CONTENT: Lochnar(ITB)'s Freshman Diablo is a classic D1 information site with various play tips, including information on BNMs and 3@30s. Some of this content can be found (with appropriate credits) on DiabloWiki. The Diablo Page of Virgil Tibbs is another ancient D1 site, this one written by a dedicated naked mage. It also includes fanfic and crossword puzzles. (This was long before ubiquitous image hosting--we had to get our jollies somehow.) Not much on OCRemix for Diablo. Blizzard released a few D1 parody songs and they're lost in a sea of Diablo III raps. I probably have them on a CD somewhere. If I find them, I'll upload them to Tindeck.
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Aug 8, 2014 17:17
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Thanks for the support, everyone. RickVoid posted:This... this is not the best option. Hmm. Sounds like something to futz around with this weekend before another recording session. I'm also going to set Fraps to capping every 2 seconds instead of every 3, try to catch more of those Kodak moments. If you test out windowed mode, let us know what happens.
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Aug 8, 2014 17:27
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